PRE-GAME RANT

I have to admit… it’s been a long break since the last Oilers game, but I haven’t missed Oilers hockey at all. I’m normally all about watching the Oilers as much as I can, but the break was nice. Hemsky hopefully will be back tonight. The lines below are the actual practice lines from today. Despite what Tencer thinks, Stortini will not be in the lineup tonight (uhh… awkwwwarrrrd). I can only assume that his penciling in Stortini on line 4 was a force of habit.

Anyways, I’ll be at the game tonight and hoping for a win, so…
Prediction: 4-2 Oilers
Khabi starts tonight, so hopefully the long time off will give him a long enough break to get into top form. OK, stop laughing..

Well another tough loss. The “Khabibulin sucks” comments are pretty typical. I am not much of a fan of him this year, but pinning the loss on him is just pinning it on him because that’s what we like to do. It’s hard to win games when your powerplay is god fucking awful and you can only score 1 goal in the game. Lots of shots tonight, but I didn’t think there was a lot of quality shots.

I do think they should be giving Dubnyk way more games if they really want to win (although at this point, I’m happy either way, since losses give us a chance at a high pick). But tonight the loss doesn’t hang on Khabi.

I don’t care about wins at this point; we clearly suck and a few wins wont change that. I do want to see Dubie in net, though, just to give the guy some action. Sitting on a bench does nothing for his development.

Steve-O: So does Strudwick.. I guess the loss was his fault too. Or maybe Colin Fraser’s or Kurtis Foster’s. Maybe JFJ’s…

Khabi played well enough last night for a win. I’m not a fan of Khabibulin this year, but getting all pissy about him being in net in this one when he actually did not too bad at all is no different than the “fucking Gilbert” comments.

That said, I 100% agree with what Otto said (although I don’t “hate” Khabibulin… I just wish they’d play Doobie more).

Steve-O: Again, who said anything about pinning the loss on him.I just said he fucking sucks.

You weren’t the only one who made the comment. And it just is a little odd that after a game there are a couple of anti-Khabi comments. Well not really that odd. I mean, I get that Khabibulin is horrible.. just the timing is a little weird since he didn’t play too bad.

Anyways, my thoughts are that Khabi is helping us get Landeskog, or Couturier or RNH or Larsson 😉 I’m perfectly fine with that. I only want to see Doobie get more games because I want to see him developing the right way.

Well the problem with having a well scouted goalie is that the other teams know what works and doesn’t. Mix a “has trouble while screened” goalie with “can’t keep people out of the crease” defensemen and you get what you get.

To be fair though, to have won with that amount of goals for we scored he’d have to have had a shut out. Anemic scoring is more of a concern to me, I fully expect to see 2 or 3 goals against with our tandem of old & young goalie. What I had hoped for was that we’d score 4 or 5 a night. If we want to win 1-0 every night we might need to pay more for a goalie and put decent defensemen in front of him… Just sayin’

yah, for sure mrgod2u. Personally I think this all hangs on the abysmal powerplay. Hall has less points than Skinner mostly because our powerplay sucks. Gagner appears to be lesser of a player because our powerplay sucks. Hemsky would be a much more respected player around the league if our powerplay didn’t suck so bad.

Whitney is definitely missed. I would also consider an upgrade on Foster for sure. Petry might be that one day, but if we’ve got a guy like Foster in the lineup who brings virtually nothing to the table, he’s easily replacable if you ask me. Not to pin it on one guy.. but it’s one area where they can improve things.

I’m with Steve-O, Khabi sucks! 1 goal against was well screened, another tipped albeit about 6 inches in front, but the one-timer for Doughty was unscreened, untipped and from the blueline. Khabi was in position, he just couldn’t react. 12-13 losses in a row for him now. Even a decent goalie can steal a win in that many chances on a shit team. He’s just not doing it this year at all…

Makes me sad to see Roli’s numbers of late. Good for Roli, bad for Oil country.

I think motivation and confidence become a factor for everyone on this team, but for players like Khabi in particular.

What does Khabi have to play for? Now I realize that he’s making a ton of money but I’m talking about the mental aspect of what it takes to be a high performance athlete. I hate to say it but veteran guys like Khabi at the tail end of his career, on a final big payday where he can’t be moved to a contender due to his cap hit…all that stuff factors into Khabi mailing it in. If Khabi had signed with us for 1.5 million and this was his final year in the contract…would that be a factor in his play this season? I think it would be. He’d be highly motivated to have a strong showcase for playoff bound teams.

As for the Roli comments…I recall that when Roli was playing for the Oilers there were plenty of ‘Roli Sucks’ comments as well. So if we decided to stick with Roli…I’m pretty certain he’d be getting a good portion of the blame for our pitiful record.

the main point isn’t whether Roli is better than Khabi or not…its that because he plays for us fans are quick to point fingers at him. I’m just saying that if we were competitive enough to make the playoffs or Khabi was being shopped for a trade, we’d be seeing a different goaltender in Khabi. Some would argue that the reason we aren’t competitive enough to make the playoffs is due to our goaltending, but I don’t agree with that either. If we consistently lose games 5-4 or even 4-3 I would be willing to place more blame on goaltending but since our offense is inept, i think its hardly fair to place the blame at Khabi’s feet. He’s not without fault but I do think he’s an easy scapegoat.

Yah in ways I agree with Mr.M…. Khabi hasn’t been spectacular most nights, no, but the team won’t win when they score 1 goal, even with Dubnyk in net.. or not likely, anyways. Definitely not our biggest issue here.

That said though, I’m a bit mystified as to why they aren’t playing Dunbyk more (although the draft-happy fan in me is content with every loss).

I think this might be our last year of being content to finish in the basement. Thats my feeling anyway. At some point they need to make those tough decisions and bring in the players that will support the young nucleus and bring us forward.

One interesting thing that I’m not sure if its been mentioned much is that they sort of already tried to do that this season. You alluded to it Racki with you comments on the addition of Foster and Fraser. Those were additions they hoped would bolster the team but I guess when they didn’t work they just figured oh well. Its the luxury of the rebuild that bad decisions don’t make as big a deal as if we’re trying to fit the final pieces of the puzzle in. By that I mean, we’re last so there’s only one way to go…if you’re a playoff team and you tinker with your team in an attempt to improve your fortune you might actually take steps backward if you trade the wrong guy or decide not to sign a certain guy.

Mr.Majestyk: I think this might be our last year of being content to finish in the basement. Thats my feeling anyway. At some point they need to make those tough decisions and bring in the players that will support the young nucleus and bring us forward.One interesting thing that I’m not sure if its been mentioned much is that they sort of already tried to do that this season. You alluded to it Racki with you comments on the addition of Foster and Fraser. Those were additions they hoped would bolster the team but I guess when they didn’t work they just figured oh well. Its the luxury of the rebuild that bad decisions don’t make as big a deal as if we’re trying to fit the final pieces of the puzzle in. By that I mean, we’re last so there’s only one way to go…if you’re a playoff team and you tinker with your team in an attempt to improve your fortune you might actually take steps backward if you trade the wrong guy or decide not to sign a certain guy.

Agreed. Next year there should be a very strong push for the playoffs. We’ve sucked long enough to get us the young players we need. Now go out and get some usefull guys as well.

Yah on that note Mr. M, I thought this year should have been the end of the contentment with being basement dwellers. Although as I mentioned in these parts earlier, I still think next year will be a bad year.. more unintentional than anything. Lots of rookies means lots of potential for sophomore jinxes. Maybe it doesn’t happen.. but I am just thinking next year won’t be too pretty either. Who knows though.

Well i don’t think it will necessarily be pretty I do think that it will be a far sight better. I am willing to bet that we don’t see as bad a sophomore jinx as you foresee, mainly due to the character of Hall and Eberle. Those two kids don’t strike me as the type. I think we may even squeak into the eighth spot next year. No worse than 10th though.

Putting ourselves in the right direction means having a plan B for next year and even a plan C. This season they went out and acquired a few new players and expected those guys to fill the roles that needed filling and crossed their fingers that the rookies would be great, Khabi would be great, everyone would remain healthy and Strudwick learned to play defence over the summer. That was plan A. They need to pick up another goaltender and send Khabibulin to the AHL if that is what helps the team win. If we lose a significant part of the roster to injury next season, we shouldn’t be satisfied with just calling up another rookie. I’ll be looking for Tambi to trade or sign a FA that can help the team…or even claiming someone off waivers. I’m not expecting them to trade away our 1st rounders or whatever but an effort must to made to improve the team, and I don’t see that happening if our young and inexperienced team keeps getting younger and more inexperienced as the season wears on. If all Tambi does is shake things up in the offseason and hope it all goes perfectly we’ll always be in the bottom because things never go as smoothly as you hope.

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